December the first marks the World AIDS Day. And the World AIDS Day Report for 2012 reveals significant progress in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in the past two years.
The figures from UNAIDS show about 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and 2.5 million were infected last year alone. That is about 700 thousand less than that in 2001. Meanwhile, in 2011, 1.7 million people died of AIDS-related diseases, 600 thousand less than that in 2005.
Among the infected, about 14.8 million are eligible for anti-retrovirus treatment with 8 million now receiving it. That’s a big increase, 63 percent more than in 2009. This year’s theme, "Getting to Zero", is based on the UN’s hopes to see a day when there are zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths.